Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King highlights - Asta in a battle of willpowers against his most powerful opponents

After much delay due to COVID, Black Clover's official movie, Sword of the Wizard King, was released on June 16, 2023. The movie's runtime is nearly two hours and is canon to Black Clover. With that in mind, many fans are doubtless clamoring to view it now that it is available on Netflix.

Disclaimer: As this is a piece about a recently released film, the following article will contain spoilers for Black Clover and the film itself. Any opinions therein are exclusive to the author.

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King summarized and highlighted

Former Wizard Kings, reborn

The four Wizard Kings in line order (Image via Sportskeeda)

One of the major highlights of Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King is the titular former Wizard King and his gang of former Wizard Kings. The prior Wizard King, Conrad Leto, was sealed away by the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, over a decade before the events of the movie. He returns with revenge in his heart and a twisted sense of justice spurring him on.

Each of the former Wizard Kings marches in lockstep with Conrad's insane plan to utterly annihilate the Clover Kingdom and craft a new reality. Supposedly, all of this is done in the name of changing the world and the kingdom while draining every citizen's magic into the Imperial Sword and attempting to unleash all of it to destroy the kingdom.

Their membership includes:

Conrad Leto, their leader and 27th Wizard King: He wields Key Magic and has the ability to steal away an opponent's magic and use it against them like a parasitic mimic. His keys seem to open all doors, as even prison magic doesn't affect him. His determination is huge, much like Asta's, as he never gives up on trying to remake the world.
Edward Avalaché, the closest thing to a "good guy" among the antagonists and 20th Wizard King: He professes a noble sentiment, wanting to weed out corruption, yet goes along with Leto's plans. His main powers are ice magic, and he rarely, if ever, loses his calm and icy demeanor.
Jester Garandros, the 16th Wizard King and a smug joker: His powers involve summoning nearly impenetrable shields. He joined the crusade out of the same ideals as the others, though he seems quite happy to fight far more than is healthy.
Princia Funnybunny, the 11th Wizard King and perpetual frowner: Her abilities can be summed up as a massive army summoner and a physical fighter when pressed. She was always the lonely one in her day, as being a feared warrior king got her there, so it's natural she fell in with Conrad.

It's worth noting they all have final forms and final attacks, meaning everyone from the Black Bulls, the Golden Dawn, and everyone in the Clover Kingdom has to team up to defeat them.

The Imperial Sword: Elsdocia

The sword fully charged and broken (Image via Sportskeeda)

Swords are always an interesting element in Black Clover, and the Imperial Sword is no exception. It not only absorbs magic, as it does to an alarming degree, but also steals the souls of those whose magic it captures. An entire stadium full of people only got a quarter full.

The Black Clover movie revolves around the sword's magic being used and abused by those claiming to want to change the world. The sword is used to absorb the magic of nearly everyone in the kingdom and then shoved into one of the ley lines of the kingdom to destroy everything, which it nearly does.

By the end of the film, Asta is able to use the tool that nearly destroyed everything and everyone he knew and loved to finally put an end to Conrad's destruction with everyone's power combined. The sword breaks when it is finally used up, having been infused with the power and strength of generations of Wizard Kings.

The fight scenes

The main characters' ultimates and the villain (Image via Sportskeeda)

The full epic scope of the fight scenes cannot be overestimated. From wide-reaching beam attacks to colossal beings made of metal and ice, many magical powers are on display that scales into the stratosphere. Each opponent has their own style when fighting, letting everyone show off.

From Mereleona going full power on Princia to Noelle and the rest of the Bulls bringing down Edward's massive ice monster to Asta fighting Conrad's giant meteor summon, the absolute charm each battle brings is on display thanks to the enhanced budgeted animation for the movie.

The good guys winning out thanks to teamwork is what really sells it. Even then, as befitting Black Clover, Asta needed everyone's aid, with the Imperial Sword being fully powered up with everyone's magic and power from Liebe to help him survive.

The canon events and callbacks

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To top all this off, the events of the film and the characters involved are all canon for the series, according to Mangaka Yuki Tabata. This makes Black Clover one of the many anime that make their movies canons, like My Hero Academia and Dragon Ball Super.

The events of the film are slated to take place during the time skip following the Elf Reincarnation Arc, and Wizard Kings introduced there are going to be introduced in the manga. Likewise, characters like Nacht and Liebe show up before their formal introductions as cameos in the film.

The film makes use of calling back to events in the series, such as Julius' sacrifice that made him reborn as a 13-year-old. The film also features callbacks to Noelle and Asta's pasts, bringing back characters like Mereleona, but can likewise be viewed by people who haven't watched Black Clover as it doesn't dwell on things too long.

These were highlights of the recently released Black Clover: The Sword of the Wizard King movie. A final note on the film is that it has a nearly two-hour run time and began streaming on Netflix on June 16th, 2023.

The film feels like it goes by quickly and tells a good story in that time, and the fight scenes are phenomenal. If anyone has any other highlights to share, they can use the comments to list them.

Edited by Dev Sharma